When it all Ended, Life went on
by silent-giant
Summary: Lennie is gone but Gerorge must still go on


Title: When It all Ended, Life Went On  
Author: Silent-giant  
Summary: Lennie is gone but George must still go on  
Rating: Pg-13 cuz I said so  
Disclaimer: I own nothing cuz I don't   
A/N I am supposed to say something witty and about the story but I can't think of anything so just insert wit and intellect ::HERE::  
  
George sat on the uncomfortable wooden chair, his shoulders slumped and his arms cradled his beer, as if someone would reach out and take it from him. He glared into the amber liquid, almost expecting it to hold some type of answer. He knew he had done the right thing. Lennie was a danger to himself and others. George had seen the look of torment on his dear friend's face. Lennie hated hurting people, but he seemed unable to control himself.   
With a deep breath George picked up the spotted and chipped glass took a sip, then returned to glaring into the drink. Slim had retreated when it became obvious that George wanted to be alone. Looking once around the dark and loud room, George gathered up his coat and headed to the door. Out on the streets he was greeted by silence.   
Tucking his coat tight around him, George began the long walk back to the ranch. Ever since pulling that trigger, he had felt numbing cold as if his insides had frozen. His heart felt like a chunk of ice that would never thaw. Now he knew that all those nights of telling Lennie they where special had not been lies. Lennie had been there through thick and thin, no matter how poorly George treated him. He could only hope that wherever Lennie was that he was happy.  
George didn't think he could be happy, not in a world where reality was so cruel. Not in this place, where the meaner you were the longer you lasted. He felt as if all mankind had been reduced to a pack of wild dogs, tearing at each other to live. Lennie had been different. He had been kind and forgiving. So much like a child, look where that got him.   
George looked up at the sky. He thought that he could almost hear the slow and dragging footsteps of his now dead companion. He swore that if he turned around Lennie would be there looking at the stars, with his hands in his pockets. He could almost hear Lennie mumbling to himself about rabbits and ranches. With a shuddering breath George stopped and looked behind him. Nothing was there but darkness. George was alone.   
He looked forward again with a steely gaze, he couldn't look backwards anymore. There was nothing back there, and there never would be. He kept walking, and for a moment, he forgot all about his dead friend, about dead dreams, and about soul wrenching loneliness. For a moment George was just George, a worker trying to make a living like all of the other wild dogs of the world. That moment was short lived.   
Tears started to trickle slowly down his checks, as if rebelling against the stern set of George's jaw. His ice-cold heart shattered and memories filled his mind. He saw Lennie sitting drenched on the riverside gasping for breath and looking at him as if he where a hero. He saw Lennie smiling with a dreamy gaze as he was told over and over of the life they would one day live. Then he saw Lennie looking over the water, trusting George, as George pulled the trigger and ended his friend's life.   
George looked up and was surprised to find that he was back at the ranch. Drying his eyes and steadying himself, he headed into the bunk. Candy lay on his bed looking at the ceiling. George thumped heavily onto his mattress and glanced over to Lennie's bunk. The sheets where still rumpled, and his belongings, although few, lay spread out on his crate. With a sigh George lay back on the stiff mattress and closed his eyes hoping for a dreamless sleep.   
He was awoken some time latter. The bunkhouse was dark and George swore that he had heared Lennie cry out to him. He was half tempted to get up and go over to Lennie's bunk. With a shake of his head, George cleared the sleep from his eyes, and the delusion that his friend was still alive from his mind. Then he heard it again, a whisper of his name, barely audible. It was Candy calling to him from his bunk. The rest of the bunkhouse was still empty so obviously George hadn't slept that long. "What Candy?" George asked, plainly and calmly, as if the millions of emotions that had been humming under his skin didn't exist. " Tell me 'bout the farm George, I know we ain't gonna' get to go, but tell me anyway George." And for a moment it wasn't Candy that was asking, it was Lennie, in his childish voice, asking to be told about the rabbits 'Tell 'bout them rabbits now George, tell 'bout them rabbits.'  
"George you awake" Candy whispered again. "Yah, I'm awake, just thinking," George stated once again in his monotone voice," Well we gonna have our selves a bit of land..." and George talked on into the night about the dream he had shared with Lennie. When Candy drifted off George kept on talking as he had so many nights under stars with Lennie hanging on every word. When the time came he whispered, "I got you and you got me." George drifted off to sleep in silent tears.  
The next morning life on the ranch hadn't changed. The workers still worked until their backs ached and skin burned. Lennie and Curly's wife were like a dream that had faded. When Crook walked by George, he gave a sympathetic nod. If anyone noticed the silent sadness surrounding George, they did not speak of it. Life on the Ranch went about its way, and any differences were ignored as if they weren't there, because during times like these that's what people do.   
  
  
THE END 


End file.
